CPEC second phase to commence soon, Senate told

Islamabad: Minister for Board of Investment (BOI) Chaudhry Salik Hussain said on Tuesday that the second phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would commence in the country soon as the first phase had already been completed.

He said this while replying to the Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi, here at the Upper House of the Parliament, adding that under the first phase of the project Gwadar had been connected with the rest of the country.

The minister said that most of the early projects under the first phase of CPEC relating to power and infrastructure had already been completed.

The second phase would focus on Industrial Cooperation with China and relocating industries from China, particularly in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), he added.

However, the minister remarked that it was very encouraging to witness that with the operationalization of most of the SEZs in the past two years, and increased investor’s interest to establish industry therein, besides other investors from different countries many Chinese origin companies had entered SEZs as enterprises.

As regards 29.27 percent decrease in the Chinese investment in the country for last couple of years, he said it was due to the outbreak of Covid-19, which had caused a sharp decline in global economic activity.

As majority of Chinese Investments fall under the CPEC ambit, the economic disruptions and social restrictions caused by COVID-19 also impacted the pace of CPEC, thus impacting the overall net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), he added.

The decrease in Chinese investments in the last two years was also due to the decrease in the FDI Inflows in the manufacturing industry.

Giving a breakdown of top two sectors in manufacturing industry, the minister stated that a fall of 73.96 percent investment was witnessed in the Electrical Machinery whereas the investment plummeted by 44.73 percent in Rubber and Rubber Products.

However, it is pertinent to mention that due to COVID-19, the manufacturing sector has been affected globally.